Bringers of Light
by Barricade
Summary: 0093UC Gundam & Babylon 5. As the EAMinbari war escalates into a conflict that would redefine the galaxy, the Vorlons learn that time can only be played with so long before the universe pushes back. WIP.
1. Prologue

_This is a non-profit story. Babylon 5 & the Universal Century Gundam series are owned by their respective companies/persons - JMS & Sunrise/Bandai respectively. The author does not own any of the characters listed and/or namedexcept as noted._

**Bringers of Light**

**Prologue-**

**2246 AD - Epsilon Eridani III (Euphrates)**

It was the beginning of the Earth-Minbari War, one of the bloodiest one sided slaughters in recorded history. And while in other regions of space the Humans were just now realizing that they now fought for their very survival, a small lifeless planet made its way through the stars. Totally ignored as considered worthless, great things were still occurring that would shake the foundations of the known galaxy even as most would never know when and where it had all originated from. As it had occurred time beyond time in an endless loop, the Great Machine quietly hummed in the depths of the planet. Varn, aging custodian to it knew his time was growing short. In less then fifteen years he would be replaced and at last be allowed his final rest. It had so long been denied him by the needs of the Vorlons and his wish to prevent a second Shadow War. As such, he was meticulously checking the calculations for what the successor he had yet to meet or choose was to perform: The sending of the great hope to the Minbari ages past.

Unfortunately time and the universe abhor both a vacuum and beings playing god with time. Deep down in the numbers that Varn was running through, millions past even what the computers in the Great Machine itself could calculate, a four changed to a seven.

Something as simple as that changed the course of history in ways that would leave the remaining First Ones stunned in its magnitude, and leave a mark upon the galaxy not seen since the original exodus to the Rim by those very First Ones. For each time in the loop that the machine had sent Babylon 4 back in time, a small shift occurred in the numbers. Imperceptible at first, in fact the station had been sent back several hundred million times already in the loop, but all the numbers did was slightly change the exact millisecond of its arrival. Or perhaps a centimeter or two off to one axis or the other. But this, this final number shift tore the carefully balanced system apart. Draal would never know, nor would the Vorlons and Valen/Sinclair, aboard the Babylon 4 notice, but the transfer was not done in a single 'slingshot' to the past, but one of several pushes back in time until it arrived as needed. It was why in years to come that Sector 14 as the humans called it was filled with space fracturing in insane degrees that would never disappear for all eternity.

As for that seven, not only would it warp the fabric of time and space, but even the Vorlons could not see that the Machine was capable of crossing universes. The effects would be profound. Varn had enough time to notice Babylon 4 'flicker' in its time bubble before everything changed forever.

0093 UC - Sol System, Earth Orbit

The view was almost tranquil in the extreme. From the moon, one could look 'down' and see Earth shining in the sky. But a shadow crossed over that view, shaped like a half-melted starfish, as it slowly spiraled in towards the helpless planet. Occasionally one could see bright flickers of light lances in all directions, followed by multiple silent spheres bulging out from nowhere. One couldn't hear what was occurring, not even with the radios trained on that area, for the final battle over the Axis asteroid was unfolding and all the tricks of the Minovsky age were at play. If one could look close enough, they could spot a stark white humanoid machine dart through space dueling against another, pure red in color. They were all but ignored by everyone else, for no one could keep up with them, and yet no one dared get close enough to make themselves a target either.

"Damn you Char! Is this a game to you? Earth doesn't need this now." Amuro let his hand flick the control stick briefly to one side and let loose with a triple burst from the Nu Gundam's beam rifle with enough force to have gouged a hole through a colony cylinder. His target merely spun to the left and side-stepped all three shots. Both suits danced around each other, each working their best to get into the angle for a kill. And when Char's mobile suit launched all six funnels, things became even wilder. And again it became even more crazed when his opponent let loose with his matching set of funnels like firing off a salvo of missiles.

"Humph, you should have realized it by now Amuro. Those left on the Earth are too corrupt to let evolution take its course. They grow weaker by the year and yet squeeze ever tighter with what they have left to hang on that much longer. This will finally set them in their place!" Char literally ducked his Sazabi under a blast from a funnel and replied with fire of his own, the shotgun like cone of beams peppering through the where the Nu had been, one second ago. Neither could land a hit on each other, no matter how hard they tried. The psyco-frames built into each suit were reading the brainwaves of the pilots to a nearly prescient degree, and with both pilots having just that ability as Newtypes made it that much more spectacular. They were each dodging six to seven beam cannons at the same time that would have reduced a lesser pilot in even the highest spec machine to mere floating debris hours ago, and yet they still fought on. By the time all their arsenals were being released at each other, anyone else in the battlezone that had even a minute to take a look and watch found that they wanted to be anywhere else but in the vicinity of those two.

Of course, others where fighting for their lives and not against something that could reasonably be considered a fair match. One of these, a Jegan MS, moved the wrong direction in dodging and drove chest first into a beam that vaporized it until all that remained was its head and left arm both floating away to become part of the debris cloud already well on its way to forming. In the distance the giant head of the Alpha Azieru mobile armor cooled after firing the beam. The young girl inside was swinging back and forth between sheer enjoyment of the 'toy' given to her, and mind numbing terror that there were pilot doing their best, if failing for the moment, to kill her. It didn't help matters either that one of the Londo Bell suits trailing behind her was piloted by someone she desperately did not want to face, even if she had fired at him to keep him away.

"Quess, what you doing? Why are you helping in this madness?" The young Hathaway could barely keep up with the girl, as his 'borrowed' Jegan wasn't even close to the capabilities that her monster mobile armor carried within. It was all he could do to keep her in sight, and with her firing wildly it had him right at the edge of his abilities. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that she was behaving erratically and wasn't acting like the girl he knew. Finally catching up again, only this time he reached her as her mood swung radically again. She was becoming quite annoyed with his tagging along, and this time she met it when the mega-beam cannon equipped armed turned to target him.

"Why can't you just leave me alone!" Quess had just enough time to start to squeeze down on the trigger when the universe went black around her.

2246 AD-

Everyone aboard the Agir'Nil, a Sharlin warship, staggered as Hyperspace around their ship warped and distorted. Just before the Alyt could order the ship reverse course, hyperspace flashed once and a vortex opened before them and pulled them into normal space. The ship had been patrolling the 'joint' where the Centauri/Minbari border was at the very edges of their territory. There shouldn't be anything out here larger then a few stray hydrogen atoms. Instead he found the ship floating serenely past a gas-giant of truly epic proportions, a reddish swirling hurricane larger then Minbar itself held station at its equator like some giant red eye or spot glaring into space.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: A Very Warm Welcome Indeed**

Everything was dead. Quess has just pressed on the trigger when the universe flashed around her like a strobe, before it all went black. She screamed her frustrations out at the machine, trying to get it to work again, but nothing would budge. She'd only been shown how to pilot and fight with the Azieru, not how to fix it or perhaps restart it. In the end, she huddled up in the seat shivering. She could tell that others were still out there, but not what they were doing. The young girl suddenly found herself all alone in the dark, her new toy now a possible deathtrap, with only emergency battery backup lighting working in the cockpit. While the Azieru was up and running, almost nothing currently built could touch her and she could fly it without a care. Now the thirteen year old found herself locked out and totally helpless. Another Mobile Suit could come along and stick the barrel literally straight in her face and pull the trigger and she'd never know. The thing could even punch its way through and she couldn't know about it until it was too late.

It had been well over an hour since everything had gone silent, and with only the mental 'hunches' that something was coming closer, she tried to bury herself in the seat. So when the soft thumps registered against the hull, she could only shiver a little, wondering what had happened. She wanted to see Char so bad she would have done anything he asked of her. However with what the muffled voice said that echoed throughout the armor, she could only whimper.

"This is the Earth Federation warship Rai Cailum. We have you under tow and bracketed by our guns. We're opening the hatch in ten seconds, come out with your hands over your head. If you offer any resistance you will be shot."

It got hard to hear was being said near the end, although 'will be shot' came out clear enough, as she could feel the MA being pulled close to what could only be the warship. They hadn't even asked for her surrender, only told her to get out or die, not that her mind was in any shape to realize that. Even with the ten second warning she barely had time to grab the helmet she refused to normally wear. It was tucked behind the seat and Quess barely had its seal on before the Londo Bell marines blew the hatch. She'd taken off the restraints almost a half hour earlier and now paid for her mistake, as the all the air rushed explosively outward to pluck her up and slam her hard enough to bounce against the inside of the hatch. Blinking past tears from the pain, the last thing she remembered seeing before she passed out was to see at least five marines hovering around her with rifles aimed at her forehead.

One of them took a closer look while the rest covered him. Squinting he backed up in his suit not quite believing his eyes. "What the hell? It's just a damn kid!"

Elsewhere the Marines weren't quite getting the same reception as a cute girl. Instead, they were backed up by not less then two Clop class ships training full broadsides at the suit they were about to crack, and there was nearly a company of marines jetting across from the ships to cover the suit as well. Leading them was a pilot fresh from his own mobile suit. Interestingly enough he didn't bother pulling out his sidearm. And considering the rivalry between the two pilots, that worried all the marines slightly.

One of them, a tech, slapped a resonance mike onto the armored skin, and after a nod from the squad leader activated her pickups. "We're popping the hatch, you know the drill Captain."

After a few seconds, nothing was heard inside except what could only be calm and unhurried breathing by the pilot. The technician turned and shrugged at the Lieutenant next to her. He returned it with an even look and simply glanced at the Master Chief next to him.

"Okay, blow it."

There was a slight whuff of air as the hatch snapped open along its joints, as everyone looked inside expectantly. Standing there before them without a seeming care was a man in a red flight suit with his arms crossed, staring eye to eye with the pilot hovering in front of him.

"Amuro."

"Char."

The stalemate edging into almost a minute before one of the marines tried to speak up but was silenced by a glance from both men before they returned to glaring at each other. Something was being said silently between the two and no one was to interrupt until it was over with. Finally with tension thick in the space around them, Char let his lip turn up briefly into a smile, as Amuro finally blinked and turned to the guards.

"Char, you are hereby under arrest. If you would be so kind as to follow us back to the Ra Keim. Chief, get a towline and secure this mobile suit."

Saluting, the man turned to his duties as the two pilots jetted across the distance to the ship with an impressive escort clustered around them. He was blissfully unaware that both pilots were worried about something beyond the fact that both wanted to kill each other. Unseen by the rest, both shared a look. They'd sensed something the instant everything flashed, that something was coming larger then them, larger then anything either had ever felt before. To both of the newtype pilots it felt like an avalanche was about to pour over into their small slice of the universe and devour them into its maw whole.

Upon passing through at the main airlock, both were surprised to see the ship's captain waiting for them who seemed to be on the verge of panic. Char had to smile a little at that, as his reputation preceded him, but it died when the captain's face hardened on looking at him. Whatever was worrying him didn't have a thing to do with the 'Red Comet' and both men caught the undercurrent immediately. Something was very wrong indeed, and Axis either wasn't part of it, or was only a small part of it.

"Lt. Ray, Captain Anzable. Before either of you say a word, come with me to CIC. Captain Anzable, as long as you refrain from anything...foolish, I have been ordered for you to see this. If you do try anything, we have two options: a nice warm bunk in the brig, or back out that airlock without a helmet. Your fleet has stood down along with ours captain. We've got problems bigger then either of you and Axis now." A chill swept through the hallway that had nothing to do with the temperature. No one said a word, and the group marched in silence to the core of the ship, wondering what could have put everyone so on edge.

Most people believe that the bridge is the heart of a ship. They're only half right. Wherever the captain sits is the heart and soul of it, but it's usually several decks down that one will truly find its brain. CIC is where everything comes together, and only after getting sorted out does the data get pumped up for the captain to deal with, otherwise in a three-dimensional combat zone one can easily get overloaded, and that's what the men and women in this room were for. As it was the room was perpetually, unless a beam round went through it, kept around ten degrees cooler then the rest of the ship, even the life-support connections to the spacesuits when they went into combat were kept slightly 'chilled'. But if the cold breeze that had met them at the airlock was bad, it was like walking into a freezer now. Everyone took a look at the famous Red Comet, and then went back to their screens. Or like the two women standing around the globe in the center of the room, they went back to staring at it.

"Ensigns Yamaguchi and Santiago, Lieutenant Ray, and Captain Anzable." Everyone nodded politely at each other in silence not sure what to say before the CO stepped back in. "Now that introduction are over with, lets get to business. Every single minovsky reactor everywhere in the system went down when that, that 'Flash' for lack of a word hit us. Your mobile suits and that monster armor are all dead in space. The only reason we're up and running is that we can get to the reactors and restart them, which is an option you pilots don't have."

Char hadn't quite been expecting this, but Amuro took that in stride. From where they'd opened the hatch on his Nu, with his eyes alone he could easily see the suits floating dead, frozen in whatever positions they had been in when it happened. Even Axis was completely dark, and could only been barely seen by lights reflecting off the Earth's surface. Coming out of his thoughts, Amuro listened as the captain continued.

"And frankly that's the good news. A few of the suits we hauled back we've already managed to restart without any problems. What the bad news is the Jupiter. We don't know how or why but something nearly two kilometers tall showed up near Io just after the Flash occurred. This happened while you were still stuck in those tin cans so you wouldn't know. And the news only now is reaching us due to time lag. Whatever it is sat around for a good ten minutes before sending a radio transmission to the colonies. When it finally got a response, we got a single one word reply: 'Humans.'"

That got their instant attention as both pilots gazes snapped up from gazing into the 3D system globe and into the man's eyes. The man held them for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he continued on. "Whatever happened next we can barely understand, but whatever that thing is opened fire. And..."

Char could see something was dreadfully wrong with this whole situation. Things that large didn't exactly come out of nowhere, and anything that did certainly wouldn't response by saying 'Humans' like that unless they were dealing... no it couldn't be possible. "Stop stalling Captain and spit it out or you're wasting my time."

Turning to the pilot it was easy to see the captain wanted to shoot the man on the spot for that, but in the end he surrendered to the pressure.

"The one observation sat we had up managed to catch the end. The Jupiter refueling fleet. The Ganymede and Callisto colonies, everything. They no longer exist. Whatever that thing is wiped out everything in Jupiter orbit in under three minutes. It's all gone."

With both the Neo-Zeon fleet and the Londo Bell taskforce facing off, the cease-fire that had gone into effect was a tense one indeed. And probably the only reason why it was being allowed in the first place was that while all the mobile suits were out, Captain Noah had ordered demolitions engineers to Axis and they had stabilized its orbit. Had it still been falling towards Earth, by the time the Axis fleet could get their own MSs Running again, things could have reverted right back to a shooting war. The strangest sight of all was seeing the NZS Rewloola, the flagship of the Neo Zeon, holding station alongside the EFS Ra Cailum. With all the blood flowing in the last four years alone with the multiple massacres by the Earth Federation's Titan taskforce, most people would have thought the world would have ended before these two fleets would come to the table peacefully. In fact the moods aboard were anything but friendly, but once word got out about what had happened to Jupiter, no one wanted to pick up where they'd stalled out.

While there was a bit of grumbling, the conference to figure out how to work through their new problem, and possibly settle some differences, was being held in the Ra Cailum herself. No one in either fleet had a record as impressive and respected as Bright Noah's. There were a few nasty words traded briefly but when Char Anzable vouched for him it settled the issue instantly. And at the moment he was glaring at one of his officers who really couldn't take the hint, while Bright was briefing them on what was occurring.

"As you can see from the video coming in from Mars, that vessel is currently heading in-system. We're tentatively calling it the 'Sunfish' at the moment considering what it looks like, but Devilfish would probably be more appropriate. We can't figure out any reason why it'd be doing this, but its been hunting down and wiping out every single one of the refueling ships that were already heading out before it showed up." No one wanted to discuss Jupiter directly anymore, the mass killings of the One Year War and the Titans made everyone distinctly uncomfortable, and this was like rubbing salt into the wound. "The other part that we need to worry about is that this thing is accelerating to each destination at least at 50gees. Nothing we have even comes close to that, and our Intel people are completely stumped as to how or why someone could built a 'drone' of this size, or how they were able to outfit it with weapons like the ones seen. It just doesn't make any sense." Most people clustering around the conference table had reflective looks at that or were simply nodding their agreement. One however wasn't going to let it sit with this, as something just didn't fit.

The slender junior officer from the Rewloola bounced on her heels slightly and let her momentum carry right to the table's edge. Almost everyone there was at a captain's rank or higher, and for a mere lieutenant to intrude with a suggestion was almost unheard of. However in her case she had an ace up her sleeve. Or more accurately, the one sitting two chairs away. "Alright Captain, we know that it appeared out of nowhere on the anti-spinward side of Jupiter from the colonies at the time. There were probes up that still ran on the old fission reactors, and they never went down, but all they could see was this 'blue flash' that we all originally thought was them lighting up their drives for their run. But," and she held up her hand her to tick off fingers for each issue, "we haven't detected any kind of drive emissions. Every time it does move all the gravimetric sensors in the system throw fits. Its weapons are far in excess of our own. Somehow it's accelerating at a rate that would crush us to death and doing it constantly. Only after several minutes without any kind of transmissions did it introduce itself by saying 'Humans', and who in their right mind would program a ship to say that, or if there was anyone aboard, why would they have chosen to say that of all things? Finally if it's a drone then how is it getting its information through the minovsky fields virtually every ship it's encountered has put up."

Bright along with Char knew where she was going, but the whole room was silent as a tomb waiting for the other shoe to drop. "And just what are you getting at lieutenant Mingueru?" he finally asked.

Nanai quietly took in a breath before leveling her gaze equally and firmly across everyone at the conference. "I do not believe this is from our solar system." There, she'd said it, and while the slight smile coming from Char helped, the glares from the rest more then smothered it.

One of the Zeon officers couldn't hold it in, "Are you crazy lieutenant? Are you saying little green men, or some tentacled monster is aboard that ship? You're mad." From the look on his face he was wondering why she hadn't been removed from duty.

"Really captain? Or is she saner then everyone here by saying what several of us have been thinking? This thing is beyond anything I know of with our tech levels. Even with multiple minovksy drives and a fusion torch engine it couldn't be doing what we've all seen, not even a drone can do that. Do you have a better suggestion as to what exactly that is? Or should we just sit here and wait until it arrives in orbit and ask it then, and ignore the fact the broken trail of ships it's leaving in its wake." What surprised most was that it wasn't Char that had come to her defense against the Zeon captain, but Bright himself. He'd bored his gaze into the man and hadn't raised his voice beyond that of a normal tone. However it had the steel of authority behind it, and the two sat staring at each other for nearly a minute before Anzable's hand lightly grasped the captain's shoulder and took the cue from Noah and gave off his own version that silenced the man with a look.

Once certain that the idiot wouldn't open his mouth again for the rest of the conference unless asked, Char turned to look back at Noah. "Well then, what do we plan to do about it?"

"Communications, have we been able to get a single out to the rest of the fleet yet?"

"Not yet Alyt, we're still having problems with all long range communications for some reason."

"Very well, keep me informed, and keep a datalog on all this. Who knows perhaps we can use this to our advantage later on, by drawing more of the human fleet here. If we're having problems, they might not even be able to talk to each other."

The Alyt was getting irritated that even after half a cycle they hadn't been able to get word out of their findings. Here was an entire colony system of humans right at the very borders of Minbari space! And yet according to his charts there shouldn't even be a star system here. He was doing the best he could but these pitifully small ships the humans had built were everywhere. It didn't make sense really. Just one of the ships in the fleet they'd sent that had murdered Dukhat massed more then everything he'd yet seen except those orbital colonies. Even as a minbari those had impressed him. How could anyone build a colony almost sixty-five kilometers long, and not bankrupt themselves? And then they did it again two more times!

The one thing that had bothered him was that their weapons were far different that the ones seen so far. They were puny in comparison to the huge mounts aboard the Agir'Nil, yet the ones that had managed to hit before he completed their destruction had chewed through the ship's hull like it didn't exist. One had hit the deck below, and he'd gone down to check the damage after it had been sealed and repressurized. While it was perhaps a fourth of his height, he could lean down and look through almost forty bulkheads, nearly the length of the hull, before the beam had dissipated. A mere pinprick against his ship, but one that shouldn't have ever occurred.

Damn you filth. But at least I might actually get the pleasure of an enjoyable battle when we reach your main colony. These ships, small as they were finally stood and fought back instead of continuously fleeing. I will still see them all dead, but perhaps these ones are at least worthy of battle, instead of those other weak cattle. Pausing for a moment in his thoughts, he gazed at the hologram suspended against the wall at the two planets left that he could detect artificial emissions from. One was a reddish world with barely a trickle coming from it, while the space around it in orbit seemed to have signals similar to the colony group around that gas-giant. And the next was the third world in, which had to be their primary colony. Energy emissions from it however were sporadic at best, and yet when they did come in the clear, they peaked out in levels incredibly high. They had to be hiding something there, but why they hadn't sent out their fleet was beginning to trouble him.

For now he would be content to show those around the red planet what a minbari war-cruiser could actually do. None in the fleet had yet had the chance to perform a full orbital bombardment, so perhaps now would be a good time for a demonstration. After all, shortly there would be so few good choices left to demonstrate on.

"Helm, plot a short-range jump into orbit around the fourth planet in the system. It looks like they're using its moons as some kind of station. I want the vortex to exit out right on top of the larger one. Then we'll sweep anything in the area."

The crew nodded and turned to their grim purpose with a surprising feeling almost like joy. Each wanted badly to wipe the stain of losing Dukhat, and the faster they wiped out this cancer of humans, the better. It only took a minute for the numbers to run, before his one female bridge crewmember turned to him with a nod.

"Alyt, we can jump at anytime."

"Very well. Jump!"


	3. Chapter 2

**-Chapter II-**

'_The Battle of Diemos would later be considered a textbook example by many. To the humans it would become the battle by which all future engagements would be judged on. For the Minbari tthough, it would become their first acquaintance in nearly 1000years with that delightful demon known to humans as Murphy.'_

- Historical Military Engagements And Tactics: 2200-2300 by Kahri G'kar (an excerpt of required text from the Narn Military Academy, 2328)

No one was quite sure when the Deimos station was nicknamed 'Donna's Restaurant' by the Jupiter fleet crews, or even where the reference came from. To most it was the first sign of civilization they had seen for months since crossing the vast empty area separating the outer planets from the inner ones. Buried partially inside the asteroid were the only two vivarium cylinders in the entire inner solar system. Both were rotating in opposite directions, canceling the torque they individually created, at just the right speed for a 1g environment to be contained within them. Though far smaller then the O'neils orbiting the distant Earth, they held nearly three quarters of a million people in total. Most of the colonies around Earth scoffed at the station, wondering how anyone could live in such cramped spaces, while those at Deimos wondered why anyone sane would want to live around a planet who's government would gas them all in a heartbeat if even a minor riot broke out. Greener pastures and a pleasant view were nice, but not having to worry about getting stuck in the middle of a war, and being a billion miles and more from anything important enough to shoot at, made looking at reddish rock all day long seem not so bad after all. And that's exactly what thirty three 6th graders, their parents, and one hassled teacher were doing outside in one of the station's many civilian shuttles.

Every year the colony school district held a mandatory 'field trip' for a week, where the students learned to use full-fledged spacesuits for the first time. Prior to taking the class, none of them had clearance to even open an airlock, let alone exit the hull, except in a colonywide emergency. Even when they were allowed outside it had to be with an adult accompanying them with a lifeline attached at all times. In many ways this class was like how the pre-UC age teenager felt when finally being given a driver's permit, and then their license, a rite of passage so to speak. And like almost all of the classes before, the students were clustered together and chatting about the first stunt or maneuver they'd pull once outside and on their own.

The first student out of the airlock, Janet Montrow, was having so much fun in the suit looking at all the cool controls that she never spotted the grab-bar encircling the lock in front of her foot and went flipping end over end because of it. The rest of the class watched as she sailed away until bouncing back as the 100 meter long bungee lifeline attached to her mother and father went taut and then pulled her back in. When she came back in close enough to see through the faceshield, it was clear she was fuming even as her friends laughed at the expression. And when she bounced off the hull after trying to reach for it instead of using her thrusters to slow her it only made her fume even more.

Her teacher didn't help matters when he mentioned how important it was to keep an eye on everything in open space like this. At least he was able to hide his grin behind his teaching mask, as he knew that bar was only present for each class' first time out. It never failed to catch at least one of the students to send them off into a tumble, and always gave the teacher in charge a chance to mention safety concerns. He couldn't keep the scowl up for long, as Janet was looked cute as a button when she scrunched up her face like that, and she was very quick to pick up on details like this. "Alright Janet, get back with the rest. And stop it with that scowling. Be glad we don't take off the lifelines for another three days or you'd still be out there spinning like a top."

Suitably subdued by that, she nodded, and like the quick study she was, used her own body inside the suit to begin to turn her, saving on the reaction mass it stored. "Mr. Montrow, I do believe she's going to be a natural, at least as soon as she stops bouncing around." the teacher mentioned on a side channel dedicated only for the parents. It kept the children from hearing anything too embarrassing, as they were nearing that age where they'd rebel if they felt they were being imposed on. With the lethality of open vacuum, every little edge helped. If it looked like a parent had tugged on a lifeline by accident, or had floated by at just the right moment by sheer coincidence, then no egos could be bruised, and therefore the less likely chance of someone doing something stupid just from getting peeved off.

Several minutes into the class everyone had spread out over roughly half a kilometer, suit lights twinkling like Christmas ornaments in the darkness. It was hard work, but most of the kids had managed to steady themselves down and perform the more basic maneuvers, completely forgetting about their earlier boasting. Everyone was so caught up with it, and knowing nothing was in the area – it had all be 'plowed' clear a day earlier using a homegrown 'beam-bulldozer' to eliminate anything that could puncture a suit – that no one noticed the four small blue craft headed in their direction. Even the teacher hadn't really noticed them, but he had kept a comline open to the pilot of the shuttle. He couldn't hear what was being transmitted to the pilot from elsewhere, but he certainly heard the woman asking who was incoming in the area that was supposed to be off-limits at the moment. Checking with the pilot, he lightly touched the thrusters and angled himself in their direction. Being that he was in a modified SAR suit just to be on the safe side if the worse-case scenario happened with a student, his helmet had a small magnifying scope and HUD built in, and spotted the formation only a few dozen kilometers away. How'd they get that close was beyond him, but probably because he couldn't see a thrust trail and they'd been coming in cold.

"This is Erik Volksroy to unknowns. You are entering an underage civilian EVA training zone. Wave off. I repeat, wave off." Not receiving a response, he turned his attention to the shuttle. "Marie, did you catch my call or are we getting minovsky build-ups?" There wasn't a reason in the world for him to think about the minovsky effect, with nothing out here of value, and the EVA zones were places that were almost never violated, but instinct drove him to mention it anyways.

"Sorry teach, I'm not picking up a single minovsky outside of our reactor. Maybe they got nailed in the radiation belt or something and their transmitters are out?"

Sighing with relief, Erik let himself relax. Several times recently some damn fool thrillseeker pilots had tried aero-brake 'skipping' across Mar's atmosphere. The last one had fried all his externals, and had to pop the hatch to manually pilot his way back. The one before that wasn't so lucky, being charred to a crisp and spread out over half a million kilometers after his craft had vaporized. "Well, at least these ones made it back. I'll get the kids and parents back inside and we'll clear out of their way."

"Sure thing. Just signal if you need the grasper arm to catch one of those ki…"

Erik never saw what happened. But a bright yellowish light streaking past him, and when he turned the shuttle had come apart, split down the middle as if someone had filleted it open. A split second later another beam came in and finished the job, breaking what was left into pieces. Turning back to face the incoming craft he was caught speechless for a second in total shock and disbelief.

"Unknowns, this is a civilian group! For god's sake there are children out here!" He was practically screaming over the line, completely forgetting that he'd left the channel open to the parents, and they heard every word. All of them spun as one just in time to see the after-image of his body turn to ash in yet a third beam. Had they known what was being said aboard the incoming craft, they would have all scrambled for safety instead of staying clustered in shock. Not that it would have done the least amount of good, except delaying the inevitable.

-----

The first Nial pilot sighed in relaxation after the irritating voice was put down. "Ah, thank you Kiral. That suit was beginning to annoy me with its chatter."

"Not a problem sir. Although, what should we do about the remaining suits in the area?" replied his first wingmate. He had a point after all. It just wasn't proper to leave a well done strafing job unfinished. Even if they target had been all but standing still, and had fallen apart after only a single hit. Even the drones back home around Minbar could withstand up to five hits. Then it hit him for an idea.

"Well, we have some free time until we hit that station. Those small ones are moving so erratically right now that we might as well be on the range. Go to maximum maneuvering, and try to see if you can hit one with each shot. We might as well get in some target practice before we move in."

All three of the warrior caste chuckled quietly about that. A fun and easy practice run was a good way to warm up, and went at it with gusto. Even with the frantic maneuvering, stunts, and every trick that those in the suits knew, they were all picked off singly one by one. The last one remaining had shown a remarkable skill for dodging through it all, and had even avoiding no less then three beams!

Janet couldn't even comprehend what was happening. Flashes of light appeared from every direction, and each time another voice when off the channels. No screams of pain, or shrieks, or even static. Just silence. After a minute she realized that no one was left to respond to her. "Daddy? Momma? Anyone, is anyone there?" She had paused to make the transmission and never saw or felt the neutron beam that came from behind her and severed her at mid-chest, flash-frying her in the remains of the suit, where it would slowly float away and burn up as yet another piece of debris as it plunged down into Mars' gravity.

"Damn, I only clipped it. Stupid trash." Muttered the second of the three, to the jeers of his wingmates.

"Hah, who are you calling stupid? You let trash like that dodge your fire three times and when you finally hit it you only wing it? You need to go back to flight school."

"Oh be quiet the both of you. Just be happy you got the extra practice. As for you Kiral, check your targeting array when we get back. Its probably misaligned, and that's what caused it." The wingleader didn't even consider the misses as anything but a fluke, and treated it as such. Fun over, they returned to their primary mission and bored in on the Deimos moon just as its defenders were getting over their shock at the massacre and begun to respond accordingly.

--

Maintaining a colony cylinder, much less two of them embedded side-by-side in a moon, was a neverending experience. Even when the Buch Concern had outright purchased the entire colony for itself, beginning with a massive overhaul, it still required checking day in and day out. While the overhaul was mostly completed, it had caused a large number of headaches and bickering from the population. To sooth them a little, the CEO of the Concern made it policy that anyone in the upper management had to perform EVA maintenance duties at least one day out of every week right alongside their employees. Even the CEO wasn't immune to this, nor his son. Both men were regulars on the duty roster, even taking extra shifts to show an example for their workers. And even then they didn't limit themselves to a 'safe' job, tending the mirrors, or checking for cracks in the transparent OrbGlass. Instead they took to checking the rotational thrusters and the rotational blocks themselves – a single mistake there could crush a four hundred meter long battleship under nearly a billion tons of colony like a child crushed tissue paper in their ands.

That was their job today in fact. Both Scharnhorst Buch and his son Meitzer were out clearing out possible blockages in the Alpha cylinder's dock end rotational array. Scharnhorst as usual preferred his Ball for practicality, and was welding away at some plating that had gotten nicked by a micro-metoroid sometime between the shifts. Off to the side hovered a far larger suit, a Dra-C, painted in brilliant crimson and white – Meitzer's personal 'toy'. How he'd managed to get his hands on it when the Axis fleet had returned with the survivors of the Delaz fleet back in 0083 was a mystery. Still fully outfitted it made for an intimidating sight at first, or at least until quick acting by its pilot had saved an entire work crew from becoming a pinkish-gray smear when a mining charge had misfired. It took nearly a week to fix the arm shield, but Meitzer hadn't complained a bit, just saying it was his duty to protect those under him and a small price to pay. As of this minute it was wedged into an area where a slice of the natural rock formation had come loose and was perilously close to carving up a hull section. A work team was already shoring it up, and the mobile suit's sheer strength via manhandling the entire slab had cut the time required by a good seven hours.

When a ping against his armor rang softly, he dropped the mono-eye down to the left to see his company foreman reeling himself closer to the gigantic figure. "Hey boss, since we're going to get this done ages earlier then usual, do you mind if I let the guys get off shift early? They need to stretch their legs out a bit after being so long in the suits. Oh and there was a mention of picking up birthday present for a certain soon to be six year old 'Noble Ronah' girl. I haven't the foggiest who they're referring to though."

Meitzer could only groan as his reply. Thankfully they were using skin-touch communication otherwise the entire work party might have heard what was being said literally behind their backs. "Dammit I knew I was forgetting something today. For hauling my butt out of the fire before I'm on the end of a crying fit, you all can get the day off as soon as this is finished." Pausing for a second, he let the Dra-C's free arm swing down next to his foreman and give off a scolding shake only meters from the man's head. "And for the record, I'm still getting used to this Ronah name, so until I say so, don't refer to myself or Nadia that way. Why my father came up with the idea is beyond me, but if he wants to be called that, that's his choice."

"Whatever you say, Sir Ronah." Meitzer could see the ear to ear grin of the man through the bubble helmet and only sighed. Some people were unrepentant no matter how hard you tried. Discussion over, he leaned the suit over and gave the man a push-off back towards the crew with the tip of one of the fingers.

'_Really what is Father thinking? A noble class in this era is beyond me. The idea has merit of course, but I really can't see introducing it at the moment. You'd need something to rally behind first. Well, there are those arrogant fools back on terra firma blaming us for everything while hording all the resources, but its not like we can do anything to stop them right now.'_

Lost in thought for a few moments, and with his comm system closed to give him a moments piece, he didn't notice the repair crew stiffen as one. Nor did he notice that the other work groups had stopped their labors, a few clamping a hand over their helmets in a way that would remind anyone of someone trying to hear more clearly through a headset. It wasn't until the group started turning in groups of two back towards the airlocks at maximum thrust that his wandering mind snapped back into focus. Switching his communications back on he was about to give them a polite earful about being a bit too ready to get a gift for his daughter, when the lines practically screamed back at him.

"...are you sure?"

"What do you mean we're under attack! There isn't even a minovsky field up?"

"Meitzer, get your ass outside now. We have problems!"

"My god that EVA class. They just slaughtered that last surviving girl!"

"Haffman, get turrets one through three warmed up immediately. Whoever they are, they're not stopping with just that bus, and they're headed directly for us."

Completely shocked by virtually the entire colony management communication lines jammed to the hilt, he only really understood the message addressed to him, and that someone had just eliminated what could only be an entire shuttlebus of kids. Mind still whirling, he didn't think but had activated the beam saber under the shield and sliced away the offending rock slab from the area. It was a gross breech of safety regulations activating that so close to the cylinder, and with work parties out, but there wasn't time for niceties now. If he hadn't sliced it, he would have been jammed in and unable to help anyway. That done, he spun the suit like a top and pushed the thrust as high as he could within the enclosed space. Before the slab had even cooled from its white-hot melted state to a reddish hue the mobile suit was only a speck in the distance. "This is Meitzer, what the hell is going on, and stop clogging the channels immediately!"

While there wasn't a formal military unit aboard either cylinder, there was the colonial M-SWAT, and they answered directly to the Buch family, considering that the second hat his father wore was that of police chief. Needless to say the commline snarl simmered to only a few necessary orders instead of what had been a near panic.

"Mr. Ronah, we have a flight of three incoming unknown craft, mobile armors what it looks like. They just eliminated the junior EVA bus and the entire class. Right now they're on a direct course for Alpha and accelerating."

"What do you mean unknowns, I need specifics. And how did they get so close without being challenged?" Meitzer couldn't believe that anyone could have appeared so close to the colony like this without a minovsky jamming field to hide their approach. It just wasn't possible anymore with the sensors available. Even out at Mars in the so-called 'boonies' of the solar system, after the One Year War they'd upgraded virtually all their systems across the board. When Axis started its burn in, they picked up any and all the mil-tech that was left, and then upgraded again. And yet here were three ships that were nearly within two hundred klicks of the colony moon, and one entire class of kids and their parents were already funeral pyres, and he couldn't figure it out.

"Nothing we have can identify them at all, right now we're classifying them as a new mobile armor. We're tagging the hostiles as Scorpions Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. As for how they got past the sensor nets we don't have a clue. We had a spike in the thermal radiation fields for about two point seven seconds three minutes ago but that's it. They appeared immediately afterwards about 400 kilometers out. We're starting minovsky scattering in five seconds. We'll be switching to tactical…isker…aser based…comm…ations as…now. Mark."

With radio virtually useless in the minovsky era, every military and civilian craft built since 0079 had automatic protocols that immediately switched over from radio to laser or flash-Morse without the pilot having to touch a button. It still monitored all bands even in the unlucky chance that something slipped through, and would relay it to the pilot or communications crews just in case it was vitally important. Unfortunately now it was line of sight only, and combat maneuvering made keeping a signal lock a job in and of itself. Thankfully Mars orbit was virtually virgin territory without a hint of clutter, unlike the Earth's lagrange points, still littered with 'Sargasso debris fields' from all the destroyed fleets and colonies. Outside of being on the other side of the incoming mobile armors from the colony everything that was launching would have perfect comm. signal locks.

Meitzer tapped back lightly on both control sticks, letting the retros pull him back to a standstill roughly a kilometer clear from the dock launch bays off of Alpha. He wasn't stupid and going to rush to meet whoever this was, and watched and waited for his team to launch. Even with no true military units, the single M-SWAT team available of two Hi-Zacks and a Zeku-Eins were armed to the teeth. Each one launched in perfect order and then holding back until its partners caught up, and then moved out in a staggered diamond formation as they reached Meitzer's Dra-C. Normally they wouldn't be having any problems, but virtually all of the suits had glanced over at the first Hi-Zack. Sergeant Shinn Asuka's whole family, including his younger sister, had been aboard the shuttlebus for her first EVA class. One look with the mono-eyes was all it took to for everyone to know the fate of that class, and it was the dead silence from his cockpit that worried his teammates.

Everyone knew that Maya Asuka was forever pulling practical jokes on her older brother, even when he was on duty as many remembered from a infamous water balloon and whoopie cushion incident. Even though he made it very clear to his friends and co-workers that he ignored and loathed her very presence, it was obvious that he doted on her. Everyone on the M-SWAT team knew her, and after what those bastards had done, no one would have said a word if all that was brought back by the group were body bags or less.

If anyone had looked closer they would have seen the Hi-Zack's eye moving ever so fractionally over the wreck. It was surrounded by miniature gas clouds already dissipating along the trajectories of whichever beam had changed the person into a carbon stain. If it wasn't for the AMBAC that was consistently moving the limbs bit by bit to maintain a constant heading, the whole formation would have seen the arms shaking, due to the pilot trembling with rage.

Oblivious to the problem, Meitzer ran through a briefing for the team. "Alright, we've got one unit over their numbers but they seem to have one god awful speed advantage as well so stay sharp. Linda, concentrate on Scorpion Alpha. Shinn you're her cover." He paused for a brief second, but Shinn's image on his screen only showed him looking evenly right back at his commander. For all he could tell, his wingman had himself under control at the moment, and so continued on. "Coran keep your distance in the Zeku, I want you to watch for any missile launches, but also keep Beta busy. You're slower with your gear, so I've notified fire control to give you support at your discretion. I'm taking Charlie."

Everyone nodded silently on his displays, and they each began to angle themselves towards their target. "Okay, break as soon as the Minvosky field hits combat strength. Don't wait for my signal, as they'll break the moment it peaks. Good hunting, and get rea..."

Meitzer, and many other people that had access to a view of outside were shocked into speechless as a huge blue and white cone of energy burst into existence sixteen kilometers behind the colony. No one had a clue what the hell it was or what was causing it until the leviathan emerged from inside it. There was no other word to describe the ship other then a leviathan, considering the sheer scale of it. The main hull alone was larger then any mobile ship anyone had ever seen before, at least two times the mass and size of even a Dolos super-carrier. One minute there was nothing, and the next a three and a half kilometer tall ship was there, blazing thankfully into nothingness with its entire forward weapons arsenal. How it had gotten so close and yet was blessedly facing the wrong direction wasn't a concern. What was a concern, was that the energy readings on the firepower it was pouring on nearly fried every sensor that was looking its way.

"Oh my god." Meitzer didn't know who whispered it like a prayer, but it described the moment perfectly, never realizing that it was his own whisper he'd heard.


End file.
